Verizon Wireless Adds 160 Jobs In Laurel Call Center

New Positions Help Keep Pace with Customer Demand, Provide Superior Customer Service

LAUREL, MD — Verizon Wireless has added 160 jobs this year to its customer service call center here to help keep pace with its customer growth and demand for its wireless services.

The Laurel center has grown from 271 employees at its inception in 1999 to more than 500 today. There were 345 customer service employees at the center at the end of last year. Current plans call for further expansion during the remainder of the year.

The additional positions are part of Verizon Wireless' three-year, $100 million nationwide call center evolution plan announced in February. As part of the plan, Verizon Wireless will expand its customer service staff nationwide from 13,800 to 14,700 this year alone, an increase of more than six percent. The company expects comparable growth in 2002 and 2003 as well.

"The increase is needed to keep pace with growth in our customer base, and to replace employees promoted to other positions," said Pamela Taylor, director of the call center. A total of 42 center employees were promoted in 2000 to special team positions in technical support, government accounts, loyalty management, and major corporate accounts, or management.

The center, one of the company's 32 call centers nationwide, handles incoming customer calls for service assistance and technical support. The company ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction among wireless users in the Washington/Baltimore area in the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates 2000 U.S. Wireless Customer Satisfaction Study.

"We are proud of the award because the results were based on interviews with our customers," said Taylor. "It is the ultimate endorsement, and we are working very hard to win again this year by continuing our strong focus on customer satisfaction and first call resolution."

The company also ranked first overall in customer satisfaction in the 2000 JD Power study in Boston, New York, Philadelphia and five other markets across the country.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless is the largest wireless communications provider in the U.S. with 28 million wireless voice and data customers. The coast-to-coast wireless provider was formed by the combination of the U.S. wireless businesses of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD), including Bell Atlantic Mobile, AirTouch Cellular, GTE Wireless and PrimeCo Personal Communications. Verizon Wireless has a footprint covering more than 90 percent of the U.S. population, 49 of the top 50 and 96 of the top 100 U.S. markets. The company, headquartered in Bedminster, NJ, is 40,000 employees strong. Reporters and editors can find more information about the company on the Web at http://www.verizonwireless.com.